


Today's Special

by ForeverRed



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Cheating, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Rey Needs A Hug, Slow Burn, Soft Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22052398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverRed/pseuds/ForeverRed
Summary: Ben is a horrible manager, but underneath that, he might just be a nice guy.
Relationships: Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	Today's Special

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I wrote this, it just popped into my head. Also, I just had to honor Ben in some way.

Rey had had just about enough of her manager. He was egotistical, moody, ridiculous, and by far too much of a perfectionist with a superiority complex. She was a good server, she knew how to upsell, knew how to interact with the customers, and she had never had any severe complaints. Sure, occasionally she could be a bit more abrasive than most but when it was busy, she didn't have time to chitchat why she tied her hair into three buns. During the busy Friday night rush, one table had tried to ask her about every single item on the menu, she had put up with it for a brief moment but she had just gotten double sat and didn't have time for the incessant questions. Rey had said pointedly that she would be back in a few minutes once they had looked over the menu. Right after she left, Ben had walked over and had received an earful from guests who had too much money and time on their hands and valued themselves too much. Unfortunately, Ben valued them too much as well. He had followed her into the back while she was carrying dishes from a table she had pre-bussed. He pulled her aside and snapped, "You need to get better control of your attitude."

"My attitude?" She asked incredulously. 

"Yes, your attitude. Snapping at customers isn’t going to get you anywhere, especially not if you want to stay employed here." Ben glared at her, dangerously close. 

"You're kidding me right? I haven't been rude to -"

"I'm not here to debate this with you," Ben cut her off. "Clean up your act and hope they don’t file a formal complaint against you."

"How about I file a complaint against you?" Rey snapped. He stopped, looking back at her. His dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. She stepped towards him, closing the distance. “Your verbal abuse and degradation against the team here is disgusting and no one has reported it yet, but I will.”

“You will be fired before you can,” Ben leaned forward, he was now so close that she could count the individual rivulets of acne scars that danced across his cheeks and forehead. “The only reason why you are still working here is because you managed to kiss Luke’s ass as his student so he gave you a job. And then you weaseled your way into my parents’ hearts. But I will fire you, despite what they say.”

“Then do it,” she hissed. “Do it, fire me and the next person you hire you better treat right. Treat this team right, if I am the reason as to why you have been so horrible then fire me and get to being a good manager. Because we both know the only reason why you have been hired here is because you are related to Luke Skywalker and you can’t work anywhere else due to your criminal record.”

He reared up, stepping away as if she had just bitten him. Which, in a way, she had. He had never mentioned to anyone his prison time, neither had Luke. She was just a naturally curious person. Curious about those in her life, especially those that could make her cry at the drop of a dime. Rey jutted out her chin and walked past him, not waiting to see if he would recover from her words. Her heart was pounding in her throat, her palms sweaty. He most definitely would fire her now. 

Rey pushed her wet hair out of her eyes, looking around blearily till she found a step to sit on. She thumped down, too drunk to care if she was even supposed to sit here or not. The rain had abated finally, but she was already drenched to the bone, and she no longer felt cold. That probably was a bad sign, but she honestly couldn’t bring herself to care. She had had another row with Finn, this time about her going to the company party. He had quit nearly a year ago, while Rey had remained at the restaurant. Ben hadn’t fired her yet, which surprised her but she continued on like nothing had happened. 

Finn though, he had been her childhood best friend, and when they had been working together they started to realize that they had feelings deeper than friendship. But they had both waited till one of them wasn’t working at the same restaurant before pursuing anything romantic. It must have been hindsight, because – while they loved each other deeply – they got into too many arguments on a regular basis. Arguments that were pointed and intended to hurt. 

It was the year-end company party and Rey had gone alone, knowing that Finn would rather eat glass than be anywhere in the same vicinity as Ben. She had had a bit too much to drink, but she was still able to think lucidly. When her phone began to ring after she had ignored a couple text alerts, she turned her phone off. That was one of her biggest pet peeves and Finn just never seemed to learn, he checked on her all the time. And while at first it had been flattering, now it just seemed obnoxious. It had been two hours and he was already calling her. 

Things had only gotten worse when he showed up to the party. Rey had tried to get him outside as soon as possible but it had been too late, Ben was already there asking why Finn was trying to gate crash. That had inspired Finn to let loose the stream of profanities that he never had been able to say before. Rey had had enough and shoved him as hard as she could outside the door. When Ben tried to follow she snapped, “I’ve got this” and slammed the door in his face. 

Cue an argument on the streets, in the rain, that ended up with both of them crying. Poe – another former coworker and close friend to Rey but best friend to Finn – had shown up and decided to take the latter home to cool off. Rey gave the excuse that she needed to cool off too, which led to her sitting on the step, her buzz dying, but her exhaustion and heartache remaining firmly alive. 

She curled over her legs, wondering if she should just take a nap and when she awoke this would all be a terrible dream or at least, not that big of a deal. Just as she closed her eyes, an infuriatingly deep voice said from above, “You are going to catch a cold.”

She looked up to see Ben eyeing her, “What do you care?”

“Well if you get sick, it means you can’t work,” Ben pointed out.

“True,” she sighed and got up. The world spun for a moment and only when it came back into focus did she realize that she had also lost her balance. But before falling Ben had grabbed her arm. 

“Sorry,” he said, taking his hand off her arm. 

Without thinking she caught his hand and replied, “Don’t be.”

“Rey,” he breathed, she looked up to see that his face was flushed. He had been drinking tonight too. He let go of her hand, “Rey, you’re not thinking straight. You just had an argument with your boyfriend, you’ve been drinking.”

“Just, pretend to be nice to me? Just for tonight. And then we can forget it,” Rey said softly, looking down at her shoes. “I just need someone to treat me like I’m something more than...than – than a –“

Before she could finish, his fingers were on her chin, tilting her head up. She looked into his eyes to find them dilated before his lips were on hers. Gently at first, but as she realized she was cold and moved closer to him to find warmth, it deepened. His tongue pushing past her lips and dancing across her own, his hand tightening on the side of her face, his other finding her waist. Her own hands trailed up to grip at his shirt before gliding over the front of his chest, marveling at the muscle she had suspected was there. She moaned softly into his mouth, his one hand snaking lower to grip at her ass. 

Rey hadn’t felt so warm in such a long time.

“Rey,” Finn’s voice broke through her reverie. “I’m sorry.”

She shouldn’t feel so betrayed and heartbroken right now, she should shake this pain away and smile. They hadn’t been happy together for a long time, and in recent months, she had thrown herself into work. Getting a second job so that she spent maybe ten or so hours at home. She had been so busy that she hadn’t noticed Finn was also never home, but not because of work. 

“Rey, it just happened. And I know I should’ve told you something before it happened but I wanted to say it to your face but you’re never home and eventually things j – just bottled…. just bottled over and we…Rey, I’m sorry.” Finn knew better than to try to touch her right now. 

“It’s fine,” Rey said finally, staring at nothing. “Just go, I want you to be happy. And I obviously wasn’t the one to do that.”

“Is there anyway we can, can we, is there a chance we can be friends?” Finn asked hopefully.

She looked at him finally to see his face twisted by guilt and heartache, “I don’t know.”

Life, of course, had continued on. Rey went to work, came back home to a dark apartment and cold bed, she sometimes ate, sometimes didn’t. She would take a short nap, before finding herself unable to sleep, and she would stay awake until her alarm went off telling her to get ready for work. She no longer laughed easily, her appearance became haggard, and she stopped talking to people who weren’t customers. 

It was ridiculous. Finn was finally happy after she had made him miserable for so long. And he had found happiness with Poe, which made sense the more she looked at it. They had always had a sexual energy around the two of them, a flirtatious aura around them that had been fun to tease and poke fun at. And she had no right to feel betrayed, only six months ago she had snogged Ben silly before he drove her home. So technically, she had cheated too. She had never told Finn though, while he had come clean. And the guilt of that was slowly eating away at her.

Weeks of going through the motions of life finally ate away at her, and she was unable to function. She didn’t shower, didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, and didn’t go to work. She just, stopped. For the first two days, her phone rang, before it died and she no longer had anything to jolt her out of her reverie. 

That was until someone pounded on her door, on the fourth day of her just sitting in front of a turned off television. She didn’t really think about it, just got up and walked towards the door, opening it. She didn’t even realize that standing there was Ben for nearly a minute. Rey finally blinked and began to think past the cloud that was hanging over her, “What’re you doing here?”

“You haven’t shown up to any of your shifts, haven’t answered any calls, and I – it’s unlike you.” Ben said.

“I’m alive and fine, you can go back to your castle,” she began to close the door.

He stopped it with his foot, “Rey, what is going on?”

His voice, it was different than usual. Not thick with contempt or ego, it didn’t hold any judgment. Only concern. She frowned slightly, “How did you know where I live?”

“Its on your records,” Ben said simply.

“Am I fired?” she asked.

“Technically yes, but I wanted to see if you’re okay first,” Ben said.

“Why are you here instead of Luke?” why would he come here, when the whole time that they had known each other had been nothing short of hostile?

“Luke is out of town.”

“Oh,” she looked down at her feet, “Well, I am alive and well, and now I am fired so you can go along on your merry way now.”

“Rey, what’s wrong? This isn’t like you, why do you think I never fired you? You’re never late, you pick up shifts, you try to never bring your personal life to work, and you never call out. Let alone do a no call no show. What’s wrong?” Ben asked, this time stepping into her space. Over the threshold of her apartment. 

She stepped back, “Nothing.”

“Don’t say nothing, you have been acting strange for weeks and now this? Rey, talk to me.” As soon as he touched her shoulder, the dam that she had built broke. And she began to cry.

“Rey,” a deeply familiar voice said behind her. She turned to see Ben, dressed in his usual all black attire. It had been awhile since she had seen him, since…since the several days where she had been unable to stop crying. 

He had taken her out of the apartment that held nothing but hurt in it and let her stay in his. He had helped her in his own way, easing her out of her depression, letting her find solid ground again. It had taken a week, and while she was still heavy with guilt and pain, she had been able to log on to his laptop and apply for jobs, while also looking for a new apartment. In that span of time, they hadn’t kissed or gone beyond that. He had helped her bathe the first night, but otherwise, nothing had happened. When he caught her applying for jobs, he had protested but she merely shook her head. “I haven’t shown up to work in two weeks, and while I am flattered that you would have a position for me there, I just can’t go back.”

He had understood, “Let me at least write you a letter of recommendation. And apply for something other than serving, you’ve been doing this long enough, and you are a good enough employee that you could be a manager.”

And manager she now was, she had gotten into a luxury hotel’s restaurant that had hired her as supervisor at first before promoting her within six months. Upon her hiring and after her promotion she sent flowers and a thank you note to Ben, she would forever be grateful to him for helping her out of her stupor. 

Now, they were in a coffee shop. She had just gotten off work, it had been end of the year inventory and payroll, and so she had pulled an all-nighter. Rey still had laundry and chores to do, so she swung by her usual coffee shop for a pick me up to help power her through the rest of her day. 

“Hello Ben,” she smiled softly at him.

“How are you doing?” he asked, fidgeting slightly. 

“I’m good, about to go home finally.” She laughed, picking up her latte when it was called. 

“Finally?” he asked, frowning.

“Seventeen hour shift, hotels are different than normal restaurants but I’m not complaining,” she replied. “How are you?”

“Good, I always come here after the gym,” Ben explained, grabbing his Americano as it was called.

“You still working at the restaurant?” she asked when he followed her outside.

“Mm,” he nodded. 

“Good,” she smiled slightly, “Treating people better?”

He looked at her, his mouth quirking up. “Yeah, a little bit. Got to inspire a little fear in the rookies.”

“Only right,” Rey sipped on her coffee before looking at him. “Did you get my notes?”

“I did, I just…sorry I just wasn’t expecting the first one and definitely not the second one. Congratulations, by the way,” he said.

She stopped, he continued walking for a few steps before realizing she wasn’t next to him. He walked back over to her, his eyes searching hers. “Ben, that wee – when you took care of me, I, I never said thank you for that.”

“Don’t, it was the right thing to do,” Ben shifted his weight. 

“When you kissed me that night, was that just because I was crying and needed someone, or did you actually kiss me because you wanted to?” Rey stared at him, feeling her stomach tighten.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I thought it was just because you pitied me and had been drinking but then you, you treated me with such kindness afterwards. When I stayed with you, you didn’t even touch me unless necessary and ever since, I haven’t been able to stop thinking why you kissed me in the first place.”

“You are right, at first it was because I pitied you. And you were cold, and alone, and I was drunk and alone too. But afterwards, I – I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And when I found you, so, broken, I wanted to kiss you again. To see if it was different, but I didn’t want to take advantage of you in that state,” Ben said, his brows furrowed together. 

She stepped closer, closing the distance between them. “How about we try it now?”

His eyes darkened slightly at her words, before he could say anything, she ran her hand along the side of his face. His eyes fluttered closed and the softest of sighs escaped his lips. Rey lifted herself up on her tiptoes and brought her lips to his. At first it was just their skin touching before his free hand snuck around her waist, bringing her ever so close and his lips opened under hers. 

And later, she finally got to see the muscle that was under his clothing.


End file.
